Have you been wondering for months what ever became of Dave’s Japanese maple seedlings? I bet you have…er well maybe not but I’ll show you even if you weren’t wondering all winter about my Japanese maple seedlings! In case you are wondering how to grow Japanese maples from seed the big secret is stratification. Stratification is where you expose a seed to cold temperatures in order to break the natural dormancy of the seed. Many plants require a certain amount of cold time in order to trigger germination and Japanese maples are one of them. This is one reason why so many gardeners stores their seeds in the refrigerator. Aside from keeping the seeds fresh the refrigeration also exposes them to cold temperatures so that when the gardener is ready to plant so are the seeds. But enough of my horticultural ramblings, now on for the Japanese maples seedlings!
Nearly all of the Japanese maples that I stored in the garden shed have come alive with new foliage. I was concerned with the winter cold – that it might have been too much for them, but thankfully my fears were unfounded. These little maples all came from the seed dropped by a Japanese maple in my parent’s yard. Germination last year was incredible. Over 140 Japanese maples germinated. Unfortunately the summer took its toll and not all came through to fall but those that did are on their way to becoming some awesome little trees. I’m hoping that this year the seed germination results will be similar since our winter temperatures were comparable to the Winter of 2009-2010.
What variety are they? I’m glad you asked! I’m about 95% positive they are ‘Bloodgood’ seedlings which is a very common Japanese maple and can be easily grown from seed. These trees could one day become landscape plants or even serve as grafting root stock for other varieties of Japanese maple.
Maples are good germinators. What will you do with all those seedlings?
Hi Dave,
Now thats a new one on me. Never heard of Japanese Maples. Are they similar to the American Maple tree?
Meemsnyc,
I'm considering selling some in a local community garage sale we have each spring. I hope to one day start a nursery and this could be how it begins!
Kev,
They are in the Acer genus but can look much different than say a red or silver maple. The leaf shape and the coloring can be vary quite a bit between the Japanese maple cultivars.
Wow! You had a lot of success!
Wow! Great job! Now what are you going to do with them all?
Wow, Dave! I'm so impressed! Imagine a small woods of nothing but these!
I don't have a Japanese Maple but sure would like to try one. My neighbor has a maple? is his back yard & I'm constantly pulling little maple saplings from my flower beds.
Ohmygoodness! This is wonderful!! I'm going to head over to visit a gardening friend. She has a BEAUTIFUL Japanese Maple… I wonder if she has seedlings?? 🙂
That is a lot of seedlings! We have a Japanese Maple out front (I don't know exactly what it is, so I always call it the "red maple") and it produces dozens of seedlings in the front yard every year! We also have a gigantic silver maple between the sidewalk and the street, so we don't really have room for more trees on our (small suburban) property. I hadn't thought of trying to share tree seedlings, though!
Just wonderful Dave…let me know if you would like to sell me one…
I also plant Japanese Maple seeds and use them as bonsai stock. They make beautiful trees and are easy for beginners.